I was fourteen and totally awkward as awkward can be. I was trying to find myself and find what I could be good at. Art had been my favorite class since I was small but I wouldn't have been picked out of a crowd for my artistic abilities then.
But my father was a painter and sketch artist. He would sketch almost anything we wanted during church to keep us 'reverent'. He was famous among us seven children for his rabbits and his little girl drawings. The ones with the ruffles on her dress, big eyes and her hands behind her back.
(Jaren)
Once, when I was about seven, after family prayer mom and dad were going to send us off to get ready for bed but dad added an extra incentive for doing it quickly. (I imagine we were all the worst doddlers, magnified by the fact that we were trying to get all seven of us through the one bathroom...)
He said whoever got all their bathroom chores done and got back to the living room first would get their portrait drawn.
I won.
So I was awkwardly fourteen and decided to try out my portrait drawing skills.
To this day, I'm grateful I don't have that first self-portrait.
( Jessica)
My father was so kind, though, and gave me pointers and explained the ratios between the facial features and encouraged me to keep trying.
Within a few months I had figured something out. Something just clicked.
I've been drawing portraits from photographs ever since.
Photos in magazines were some of my first subjects. The pictures were large and gave a wide variety of options. This eventually lead me to try drawing baby photos from a parenting magazine:
It was an ad for a medicine to help babies with gas. :) See how sad the poor thing is!
Gas is no laughing matter!
(Cody)
(Taelyn) Pardon the glare from the glass!
(Tanner)
(Client)
I've found over the years that the bigger the drawing, the more enjoyable for me and my clients.
I love love love my return clients who come back to me every time they have another child or they need another gift. Bless them.
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